Heather Jaspan completed her medical degree and PhD in Immunology at Tulane in USA, and thereafter did paediatrics training at the University of Washington/ Seattle Children's Hospital. Upon completion, she returned to Africa, first to Malawi and then back home to South Africa, where she spent 5 years doing clinical HIV prevention research. In 2008, she returned to Seattle Children's to obtain Paediatric Infectious Diseases subspecialty training, returning to basic science immunology research. She spends a large proportion of her time recruiting cohorts in South Africa, and running laboratories in both Cape Town and Seattle, answering immunological questions around HIV prevention in children via breastfeeding and in adolescents via sexual activity.

What are the determinants of effective cellular immune responses to vaccines and other antigens? To inform HIV vaccine design for neonates, we need to understand how the exposed infant's immune response is altered by the exposure and their consequent gut microbiome.

Adolescent mucosal immunology. With collaborators locally and in the USA, we are interested in what immunological factors in the genital tract of young African females renders them at such high risk to HIV. Our lab is interested in the interplay between the microbiome and the immune system.

Suppressors cells in infancy. With collaborators locally and in the USA, we are examining the frequency and function of newly described infant suppressor cells and how they may affect immunity in infants.